The northern fiscal (''Lanius humeralis'') is a member of the
shrike
Shrikes () are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of 34 species in four genera.
The family name, and that of the largest genus, ''Lanius'', is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also know ...
family found through most of
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
. It used to be grouped with the
southern fiscal (''Lanius collaris''). Together they were called the common fiscal. The fiscal gets its English and Afrikaans common names from its black and white 'suit-and-tie' appearance reminiscent of the taxman (‘fiscal’).
Identification
This is a fairly distinctive 21–23 cm long
passerine with white underparts and black upperparts extending from the top of the head down to the tail. The bird has a characteristic white 'V' on the back and a relatively long black tail with white outer feathers and white tips on the other feathers. The bill, eyes and legs are black. Adult male and female northern fiscals are quite similar except for the rufous lower flank of the female.
Subspecies
Listed alphabetically.
Northern Fiscal (''Lanius humeralis'')
Internet Bird Collection
* ''L. h. capelli'' (Bocage, 1879) – S Gabon and S PRCongo E to S DRCongo, extreme SW Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, and S to Angola
* ''L. h. humeralis'' Stanley, 1814 – C Eritrea, C & S Ethiopia, SE South Sudan, E Uganda, W Kenya, Tanzania, N Malawi, and N Mozambique; probably also NE Zambia
* ''L. h. smithii'' (Fraser, 1843) – S Mauritania (rare), S Mali (rare) and from S Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia E to Central African Republic, N PRCongo, SW South Sudan, and W Uganda
Habits
The northern fiscal is usually solitary and hunts insects and small rodents from an exposed perch or the tops of shrubs. Territorial
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...
size is directly related to the density of hunting perches. Installing more artificial perches causes the fiscal to reduce its territory size and allow more birds in the affected range.
Habitat
The northern fiscal lives in a wide range of habitats
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
from grassland with fences for perching to acacia
''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...
thornveld or even woodland, but avoids very dense habitats where its hunting would be impaired.
Call
It gives a jumbled mix of shrike-like swizzling sounds including some imitations and a harsh ' alarm call.
References
* Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey and Warwick Tarboton, ''SASOL Birds of Southern Africa'' (Struik 2002)
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q10784388
Lanius